At the very outset, it seemed that the government was going to act with the constraint that was needed in response to the student protests against an archaic quota system in dire need of reform, but it has started to take a high-handed approach to jackboot these youthful voices into silence. What could have resolved through discourse ended in another example of violent suppression.
As if prepared to attack, Chhatra League members joined protest marches of students across campuses against the prime minister's remarks on their movement on Sunday. Brutality was shocking beyond words. Students, including women, were sent to a pulp with rods and sticks. Unforgettable images showed students unconscious, a dazed student bleeding, young women being attacked. Scenes reminiscent of battlefields were enacted on university campuses. Even students who flocked to Dhaka Medical College Hospital for treatment were beaten inside the emergency center.
It was said that the police and Chhatra League had been instructed to be patient, at least in the early stages. All such sense was lost after some scornful comments by top officials, including AL general secretary Obaidul Quader. He had commented that the Chhatra League was ready to respond to the "audacious behavior" of the protesters.
It is tragic that a student body once leading significant movements has turned into stooges of the ruling party. The scenario of university students attacking fellow students is scary when the cause is something that should unite them. The police, often mute spectators, do nothing when students are attacked.
This violent response to peaceful protests reflects a reality where any dissent is seen as a threat to power. Absent in the government was tolerance and willingness to listen to young people asking with passion for a fair chance in life and an equitable system; to compete based on merit and hard work for any government job was something this group of youth would relish. Are they wrong to ask for such things?
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